Who Is Martin Crowe ?

Martin Crowe remains on the front foot about the legality of Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action, including taking a swing at former International Cricket Council match referee and test captain John R Reid.

The two heavy hitters of New Zealand cricket are at odds over the Sri Lankan spinner and yesterday it was Crowe calling into question whether Reid understood the situation.

Reid was on the ICC illegal delivery panel that cleared Muralitharan six years ago but Crowe believes that has no relevance to now because Murali did not bowl his demon doosra then.

Crowe emailed the ICC with his concerns about aspects of Murali's performance in the second test at the Basin Reserve and after receiving a prompt response feels compelled to send television footage - specifically of Murali's spell into the northerly on the second morning.

Crowe's beef is that Murali's action appeared to go to pot under the stress of the conditions, and in doing so the Sri Lankan was able to extract prodigious turn at that stage of the test and capture 4-23 from eight overs.

That prompted Crowe during a commentary stint on Sky TV with respected West Indian Tony Cozier to call for the ICC to run regular checks on bowlers it has previously cleared in case they are falling back on old habits.

"I have no worries over his off-spinner whatsoever," Crowe said.

"It's the doosra which he now bowls more and more, often up to 50 per cent in a given spell, as we saw during the Wellington test, which is the only thing that needs further clarification.

"His doosra was banned two years ago and I believe needs consistent monitoring."

Reid told The Dominion Post on Tuesday that Crowe was speaking gobbledegook and had insufficient knowledge on the subject. Reid said the high-powered nine-man panel unanimously cleared Murali after being provided with all the relevant material.

Some bloke who wants a bit of attention now that his career is over, so he calls Murali a chucker. Very original.

Originally Posted by Top_Cat

1) Had double pneumonia as a kid, as did my twin sis. Doctors told my parents to pray that we lived through the night. Dad said **** off, I'm an atheist, you ****s better save my kids, etc. Then prayed anyway.

Martin Crowe
Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe is defending himself against another attack from Sri Lankan interests, this time from his old adversary Arjuna Ranatunga.

Crowe, who queried the legality of Muttiah Muralitharan's wrong-'un during the second test in Wellington and sent film footage to the International Cricket Council unprompted, insists he did so - not out of spite - but for the greater good of the game.

"I wasn't being nasty or malicious. I've got a lot of respect for Sri Lankan cricket and I love the way they play the game," he said last night.

"I can understand Arjuna wanting to protect Murali and Sri Lanka's chance of success at the next World Cup but, from an independent viewpoint, I think the issue deserves to be discussed."

Crowe reiterated yesterday that he was startled only by Murali's doosra, or wrong-'un, and particularly the action employed on the first evening and the second morning of the second test.

The footage sent by Crowe will evidently be used by the ICC in a split-screen format to compare Murali's action during the Wellington test with the action he employed under laboratory testing.

Ranatunga yesterday questioned why Crowe didn't raise the matter in Christchurch when New Zealand were winning, instead of bringing it up when the home side were suffering a heavy defeat at Wellington.

"You don't wait till your team loses and then make a big hue and cry about it," said the former test captain.

"I had a lot of respect for Crowe as a player and as a gentleman. But I've got to say that I've lost that respect.

"He sounds more like an Australian now."

Ranatunga suggested hypocrisy and racism were behind the criticisms about his countryman's action.

"I feel sorry for Murali," he said. "He's got to put up with this kind of crap whenever he comes up with a good performance.

"If he'd been playing for Australia, New Zealand or England they would have hailed him as the greatest bowler ever to play the game.

"He would have been known as the genius who overcame deformity and became a star. But simply because he's an Asian, he's got to go through this."

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Martin Crowe remains on the front foot about the legality of Muttiah Muralitharan's bowling action, including taking a swing at former International Cricket Council match referee and test captain John R Reid.

Reid told The Dominion Post on Tuesday that Crowe was speaking gobbledegook and had insufficient knowledge on the subject. Reid said the high-powered nine-man panel unanimously cleared Murali after being provided with all the relevant material.

the committee that cleared Murali has some of the finest names in cricket so obviously their experience counted - however another promising bowler in the early 90's Jayananda Warnaweera who could have become another Kumble was hounded out on his bowling action.

I remember even the legendary Bishan Bedi fuming and swearing at Murali's action in an interview last year and calling for him to be banned.